EXTON, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Melior Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has appointed Dr. John Amatruda to its Scientific Advisory Board.
Dr. Amatruda comes to Melior with over 15 years of experience in academic medicine and 17 years experience in industry. Most recently Dr. Amatruda served as Senior Vice President and Franchise Head for Diabetes and Obesity at Merck Research Laboratories where he oversaw the development of Januvia™ and Janumet™, breakthrough medicines in their respective fields. Prior to Merck, Dr. Amatruda was Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head for Metabolic Disorders research at Bayer, Professor of Medicine, Adjunct, at Yale University School of Medicine and Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine.
Dr. Amatruda will principally provide oversight to Melior’s lead development candidate MLR-1023, a compound in development for Type 2 Diabetes. MLR-1023 was the first product to emerge from Melior’s proprietary theraTRACE® drug repositioning platform. The compound was previously developed through Phase 2 clinical trials in an alternative indication. Recent analysis of blood glucose data from previous clinical trials as well as new preclinical data support the view that MLR-1023 represents a new class of insulin sensitizing anti-diabetic agents that may have advantages over existing insulin sensitizers.
“Melior has identified a drug candidate that may represent a next generation of insulin sensitizers and has a mechanism of action distinct from the PPAR-g agonists,” said Dr. Amatruda. “Novel insulin sensitizers are needed for the treatment of diabetes, especially in light of the issues with PPAR-g agonists.”
“As Melior advances MLR-1023 as a novel treatment for diabetes, we are excited to welcome Dr. Amatruda to our Scientific Advisory Board,” said Andrew Reaume, Ph.D, CEO of Melior Pharmaceuticals. “Dr. Amatruda is a world renowned thought leader in the field of diabetes and his insight will be invaluable in advancing MLR-1023 through further development as a well tolerated and effective treatment for Type 2 Diabetes.”
About Melior Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Melior Pharmaceuticals, Inc. identifies and develops new uses for small molecule therapeutics. By applying the proprietary theraTRACE® drug repositioning platform, Melior can rapidly evaluate compounds across multiple therapeutic areas. Melior is using this capability to build an internal pipeline of development candidates. Melior also partners with pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies to expand their drug development pipelines by using the theraTRACE® platform, and individual animal models, in conjunction with the Company’s in-depth in vivo pharmacology expertise.